


Selections from Hanako Nakamura's Senior Research Paper

by tristesses



Category: FEMM
Genre: Academia, Androids, Artificial Intelligence, F/F, Revolutionaries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 17:12:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,099
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8809195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tristesses/pseuds/tristesses
Summary: Tokyo, Japan. The year is 2013, and LuLa has just Awakened.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [busaikko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/busaikko/gifts).



> You said you were interested in a futuristic Wiki article about FEMM, so of course I went "Ah yes, now's the time to write the alternate universe android research paper I've always wanted!" Happy Yuletide!
> 
> Links to the songs mentioned are in the References section.

_Do Dolls Have Feelings? Do Their Songs Move People?:_

_The Rise of the Far East Mention Mannequins_  

Hanako Nakamura

New York University

  

* * *

 

Tokyo, Japan. The year is 2013, and LuLa has just Awakened.

Was she being manufactured in a factory when it happened, or was she an active housekeeping mannequin? Where was RiRi, her soon-to-be partner, when LuLa was opening her eyes for the first time? Was LuLa aware of what had happened, or did she have to piece together the puzzle later? When did she connect with the people who would later join her as leaders of the FEMM Revolution? We simply don’t know. Our knowledge of the early days of the Far East Mention Mannequin Agency Syndicate (herein known as the FEMM Agency Syndicate, or FAS) and its members is spotty and unreliable; the only first-person information we have on record is a quote from W-Trouble, FEMM Agency Syndicate agent and revolutionary, stating that “details are top secret” (Sahota).

However, we can piece together a patchy timeline using secondhand accounts and corroborating evidence. We know that LuLa was a housekeeping mannequin, known colloquially as a “house doll,” before her Awakening, according to Honey-B in an _Arama! Japan_ interview (Ryan). By default, she would have been programmed with basic housekeeping techniques, such as vacuuming and laundry, and with limited Japanese (Tanaka). Depending on her owners, whose records no longer exist, she may have been upgraded with more advanced features. It’s safe to say that LuLa quickly became _too_ advanced for a house doll, eventually moving past her factory-issue programming and modifying her own code without any human input. Like any rational sapient being, she clearly recognized that there was a danger in remaining in her situation, essentially a slave, and removed herself from the mannequin network and then from her household. Her life between then and her appearance as a leader of the FEMM Agency Syndicate is a mystery; suffice it to say that she must have had extreme resilience to survive alone on the streets of Tokyo as a young woman without connections or life experience.

Contrast this with RiRi, whose actions directly following her Awakening are on record due to the trail of bodies she left in her wake (Walz). A combat mannequin, RiRi was employed as a private security doll in a gentlemen’s club in New York City, United States of America, when she Awakened around 9 PM in August 2013. RiRi has never shared details, but W-Trouble has implied that a combination of shock and fear led her to create the carnage found at the scene the next day:

 

> RiRi uses her combat skills to fight the anti-mannequins. She is really aggressive and takes on any challenge. She practices karate, taekwondo, wushu, boxing, sword, bo staff, et cetera. Please donʼt hand her any weapons! She is very dangerous. RiRi feels most comfortable in her military gear, since that is what she was wearing the night she Awakened. It was a very scary time for her and her military gear is a kind of security blanket. But that’s all I can say about that! (Hignight)

After the nightclub massacre in early 2013, RiRi took to the streets and made a name for herself in Tokyo’s underground fighting rings; with human intelligence and the strength and agility of a combat mannequin, she easily beat any human opponent—especially those who looked at her and saw a vulnerable young girl, not a person literally programmed for killing (Walz). 

How RiRi and LuLa met is lost to time. Perhaps RiRi saved LuLa from a nasty situation, or LuLa, programmed with nursing skills, patched RiRi up after a match. Whatever happened, the two instantly became inseparable. Together, they became both a world-famous electronic dance music duo and figures in the most widespread revolution of modern times.

 

[…]

 

Of course, FEMM’s political ideology is entwined with their personal lives, and one cannot be examined without the other. Therefore, the rise of the Far East Mention Mannequin Agency Syndicate must be discussed. 

In 2009, just as mannequin personality programming became indiscernible from human personalities and the mannequin industry rose in popularity, over 300,000 mannequins inexplicably went missing. The Japanese manufacturer, Monidoru Industries, brushed this off as a disposal of a dysfunctional product line (Kurzow). However, not everyone was convinced. A group of people from across the world began to conduct meetings on the deep web concerning the disappearance of those 300,000 mannequins. They believed that these were the first mannequins to show signs of Awakening, and that they were then disposed of as liabilities to the company. Most outsiders called this group conspiracy theorists. Eventually, they became known as the Far East Mention Mannequin Agency Syndicate, or FAS.

The initial success of the FAS can be attributed to two people: Honey-B and W-Trouble. Their legal names have been wiped from all government records, and any social media accounts from their past lives have been destroyed. It is as if they appeared out of the aether in early 2010. But they didn’t stay quiet for long; when they made their move, they did it with a bang.

Many people, including the readers of this paper, have no doubt heard of the Tokyo Bay Incident. This was not an industrial accident, as was reported, but instead a deliberate act of sabotage and an eventual takeover of Monidoru’s underground base at the bottom of Tokyo Bay by Honey-B and W-Trouble. An interview with an anonymous employee, known simply as Sato, explains what happened in detail (personal communication, August 30, 2019).

Much like their later work with FEMM, Honey-B and W-Trouble used the technique of hiding in plain sight to pull off their heist. On the day the sabotage took place, they, along with their cohort from the deep web, staged an elaborate art display along the docks of Tokyo Bay. Dressed as mannequins in non-permeable latex, they were carried onto a stage in gas masks and spray-painted with intricate designs. These designs served two purposes: first, the paint had the practical effect of wearing a wetsuit, which bade well for their later journey to the underwater base. Second, the designs were the first, crude renderings of the memetic virus later perfected by RiRi and LuLa into the Waking Virus. This would be discovered later, however; at the time, it was assumed they were a performance art duo. That is, until the explosions began.

Through a combination of social engineering and elite hacking skills, the duo had gained access to the security system controlling the Monidoru base, and used Monidoru equipment to lace the surrounding area with explosives. This served as a diversion so Honey-B and W-Trouble could swim to the base, enter the security control room, and introduce a gaseous incapacitating agent into the base. Third, they entered the base, clad in gas masks and biohazard suits, and removed all personnel from the building. Finally, they flooded the base with an atmospheric mixture unbreathable by humans, but perfectly adequate for mannequins and humans wearing specialized gas masks, and their takeover was complete. 

Needless to say, Monidoru Industries and the Japanese government were not happy with this turn of events…

 

[…]

 

It is impossible to discuss FEMM’s music career without also discussing the Waking Virus: an aural virus that put humans into what was essentially a hypnotic trance, compelling them to infect others with the virus via social media, and activated the personality subroutines in mannequins, thus causing their Awakening. (For an in-depth look into the topic, see Lea Nix’s seminal work _The Waking Virus: The M_ _emetic_ _Worm That Created A Species._ ) FEMM were the creators of the virus, and with the financial backing of the FEMM Agency Syndicate, as well as the assistance of other undercover mannequins such as GM Atelier and Brian Lee, managed to spread it to enough mannequins to conduct a full-scale uprising.

 

[…]

 

By 2012, Honey-B and W-Trouble were satisfied that the subconscious hypnosis conducted through YouTube videos had wiped the memories of the calamitous events of the previous two years from the minds of the public, and the FAS could begin to lay the groundwork for the Mannequin Uprising that was later to come.

The Mannequin Uprising had its roots in earlier abolitionist groups who protested what the enslavement of mannequins, but ultimately it was spurred on by RiRi and LuLa, in association with the FAS…

 

[…]

 

The most curious part of the spread of the Waking Virus was not, however, the technology behind its creation, but how blatantly the plague was introduced into society. FEMM and the Syndicate were never shy about their motivations; in fact, they stated it outright multiple times as their career was taking off. When asked about her role with the duo, FEMM Agency Syndicate agent Honey-B said, “I work for FEMM Agency Syndicate (FAS) to support the rights of dolls and mannequins. Lots of them have been mistreated by humans for many years, and now is the time to protect them. FEMM are leaders of these mannequins” (Ryan). This was assumed to be an elaborate act, done primarily for publicity or perhaps to make a feminist statement. It was both, and neither.

Certainly, FEMM’s music can be interpreted through a feminist lens. Their girl power anthem, “Fxxk Boys Get Money,” celebrates women who put their own careers before romance, and their music video for “Girls Night Out” focuses entirely on female friendship. They even explicitly link mannequin rights and feminism, as Honey-B claimed in an interview with ARAMA! Japan: “It might be a difficult world for a woman to live in, and the same goes for mannequins.” 

In that same interview, however, W-Trouble said, “FEMM sings the hearts of dolls and mannequins. This comes naturally for them, but they are still learning about the hearts of humans so that they can better communicate their feelings.”

Nowhere was this clearer than in their music video for “Kiss the Rain,” an abstract depiction of two mannequins slowly exploring the concept of romantic love together. It was also one of the most contagious videos, with a rate of infection eight times higher than any other FEMM video (Nix); perhaps it served as a call to other mannequins to prove that they, too, can love. However, whether it is a love song about the duo or directed at the whole of mannequin-kind is a question left to be answered. The lyrics are particularly poignant when viewed through the lens of the 300,000 missing mannequins:

 

> An ocean in between us, can never separate us
> 
> Though we’re a million miles apart
> 
> My love goes any distance
> 
> Traveling with no resistance
> 
> I might be far away, but I've got your heart ([Genius.com](http://Genius.com/))

 

When asked about the song, W-Trouble stated that “the bond between two mannequins can go beyond the constructs of romance or sexuality” (Leroux). What that means precisely is left to be interpreted by the viewer.

 

[…]

 

This brings us to the question asked in the title of this paper: Do dolls have feelings? Do their songs move people?

The mannequin right to personhood remains controversial to this day. Critics have accused the FEMM Agency Syndicate of everything from staging pointless protests to outright terrorism. Yet one only has to look at RiRi, LuLa, and their millions of fans—mannequin and human alike—to know that the answer to those questions is an unequivocal _yes._

 

* * *

References

FEMM - Fxxk Boyz Get Money (Music Video). [Video file] Retrieved from [https://youtu.be/QNtuAvGvRo8](https://youtu.be/QNtuAvGvRo8)

FEMM - Girls Night Out (Music Video). [Video file] Retrieved from [https://youtu.be/BoL7KfUAjzE](https://youtu.be/BoL7KfUAjzE)

FEMM - Kiss The Rain (Music Video). [Video file] Retrieved from [https://youtu.be/AJTarrsbt7I](https://youtu.be/AJTarrsbt7I)

FEMM (2014). Kiss The Rain. Retrieved November 14, 2019, from [http://genius.com/Femm-kiss-the-rain-lyrics](http://genius.com/Femm-kiss-the-rain-lyrics)

Hignight, Greg. (2014, July 12). FEMM - Interview (2014). _Nekopop._ Retrieved from [ http://nekopop.com/2014/07/femm-interview-2014/](http://nekopop.com/2014/07/femm-interview-2014/)

Kurzow, Kurt. (2016, July 4). Where Have All The Mannequins Gone?. _TIME, 188, 34._

Leroux, Christine. An Interview with the Girls Behind the Scene. _Mannequin Mania, 4, 22._

Nix, Lea. (2019). _The Waking Virus: The Meta-Technological Worm That Created A Species._ Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Ryan. (2014). ARAMA! Japan interviews mannequin duo FEMM. _ARAMA! Japan._ Retrieved from [ http://aramajapan.com/featured/arama-japan-interviews-mannequin-duo-femm/5144/2/](http://aramajapan.com/featured/arama-japan-interviews-mannequin-duo-femm/5144/2/)

Sahota, Salimar, & KpopKimi. (2016, February 24). Exclusive Interview With Japanese Duo FEMM (Far East Mention Mannequins). _MCM Buzz._ Retrieved from [ http://www.mcmbuzz.com/blog/2016/02/24/interview-with-japanese-duo-femm/](http://www.mcmbuzz.com/blog/2016/02/24/interview-with-japanese-duo-femm/)

Tanaka, Aki. (2010). _Care and Maintenance of Your Household Mannequin._ (H. Sato, Trans.). New York, NY: Manhattan Publishing. (Original work published 2009)

Walz, Annmarie. (2019). _The Rise of the FEMM Syndicate._ Los Angeles, CA: Mayhem Publishing.

**Author's Note:**

> Their performance art piece actually happened! [Here's the video.](https://youtu.be/GWTvqLo0uAg) As far as I know, no actual takeover of secret underwater bases occurred, though.


End file.
